PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island’s three public colleges face a $37 million budget gap that may have been caused in part by an accounting error, according to state education officials
Higher education officials say Gov. Don Carcieri’s proposed budget assumes $292.6 million will be collected from the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the Community College of Rhode Island.
But the Board of Governors for Higher Education estimates just $255 million will be collected from the three schools based on a 6 percent boost in fees and tuition. Education officials say college could become increasingly unaffordable if lawmakers approve additional tuition and fee increases.
“If the attempt is made to close the gap by raising tuition and fees, we’d be looking at increases in the 12 to 15 percent range, rather than the 6 percent we’ve already put forward,” Jack Warner, Rhode Island’s commissioner of higher education, said on Friday at a House Finance Committee meeting.
The state’s budget office said two mistakes led to the problem. The first was when $17.9 million in bond debt was transferred from the Department of Administration to the Office of Higher Education, but that amount was not subtracted from tuition and fee revenue as it should have been. The rest of the shortfall comes from a disparity between what higher education officials claim they need to finance colleges at “the current service level” and the governor’s proposed $181 million to operate the schools next year.
State budget officials say they’ll work with legislators to close the gap. But some legislators say it may be tough.
“So it’s $37 million short. That means it’s either tuition going up or this committee finding a whole bunch of money we don’t have,” said Steven M. Costantino, D-Providence, chairman of the Finance Committee.
“This adds to the challenges this body has before it. This is a serious mistake,” he said.
The state’s three public colleges serve more than 29,000 students. Six percent tuition hikes at the schools were approved by the Board of Governors last fall.
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